The Ministry of Public Administration and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia have processed 388 proposals, of which 31 have now been realized.
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia (GZS) and the Ministry of Public Administration (MPA) initially from March 2015 on, through various channels, urge the entrepreneurs, to communicate via portals Business SOS and Stop the bureaucracy challenges they are detecting in general dealings with the government or in specific procedures.
The objective of the Ministry of Public Administration (MPA) and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia (GZS) is to establish a closer link between the economy and public administration and through the specific proposals of commercial entities and citizens, to achieve a reduction of existing administrative barriers, simplification of procedures and easier and more transparent legislation.
“The Stop the Bureaucracy Project is one of the ways by which the Government of the Republic of Slovenia implements its firm commitment to improve the business environment and enhance the impact of entrepreneurship on the process of drafting and adoption of regulations,” says Boris Koprivnikar, Minister of Public Administration. “We are aware of the necessity of bureaucracy, since it significantly affects the performance of the business environment, but on the other hand in many cases it’s becoming an obstacle that government officials often do not even recognize. Such projects are strongly supported by the government, since they create a dialogue resulting in concrete solutions. Activities and proposals of entrepreneurs are monitored via various channels and portals. In the future, the dialogue with business will become even more intense, with special focus on the monitoring of the proposals’ realization.”
Thus, in addition to the Stop the Bureaucracy portal, intended for the citizens who wish to submit an initiative to improve the regulation or propose the amendment of the existing regulatory framework, commercial entities can also use another communication channel – Business SOS. Through Business SOS entrepreneurs can communicate a specific problem they have encountered in doing business in specific procedures when dealing with the government. The task of the Ministry is to address the communicated problem and, in cooperation with other competent authorities, find the optimum solution.
Six months after the campaign commencement, Business SOS and Stop the bureaucracy received over 50 concrete proposals ranging from the building permits and ownership of plots of land, road traffic regulations, the health insurance application issues, the handling of hazardous chemicals, registration of supplementary activities, work code amendments, amendments in the field of legal transaction in agricultural land, reducing the number of sub-accounts, etc.
The MPA and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia (GZS) were anticipating that the majority of messages would refer to the difficulties arising from the excessive length of adjudication of cases, supplementation of the applications, mishandling of the authorities, among other issues. So far it can be concluded that in the majority of cases there are no easy solutions, as it involves more than just inappropriate conduct of authorities; the reason lies primarily in the inadequate laws. Regardless of the fact that the amendment of regulations takes more time, as it involves inter-ministerial coordination and decision-making of various branches of power, the results are starting to show.
For example, one company proposed an amendment to the rule that refers to the indoor driving speed of forklifts, a law that was adopted in 1967 and is still enforced. The law stipulates that indoor speed should not exceed 5km/h, which was at the time a relevant decision, but 50 years later, this provision is absurd. It is not possible to purchase or rent a forklift on the market which has a maximum speed of only 5km/h, so users in Slovenia had to readjust new forklifts. The company has proposed to increase the speed limit to 10km/h due to technological evolution. The Government has acknowledged the case as suitable for further adjudication and included it in the Single document to ensure a better regulatory and business environment and increased competitiveness and proposed to the competent authority high priority in realization of a measure. Another initiative of entrepreneur, which refers to the regulation of the proportionality level of fines (according to the ratio on the market) in the field of real estate brokerage, has been placed in the Single Document and proposed to the competent authority with high priority in realization of a measure.
The Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning has also realized measures in the field of water records management. In 2015 they established and upgraded numerous water records, and e-Waters, a new information platform where all water records are kept, has been established. In the last three-month period Government approved two new measures on the basis of submitted proposals, which are included in the Single document to ensure a better regulatory and business environment.
The Director General of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia (GZS), assessed the cooperation between the Ministry of Public Administration and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the Business SOS project as an example of good practice and an effective approach to improving the business environment. He pointed out that Business SOS showed that businesses wanted to participate in forming the proposals for the improvement of legislation and cutting red tape in the legislative process. “I believe that the Government should continue with gathering the proposals and problem solving under the brand name Business SOS,” he concluded.
The Ministry of Public Administration, in cooperation with the interested public, will continue using the communication channels Stop the Bureaucracy and Business SOS to speed up problem-solving and responsiveness in regard to the proposals by citizens and businesses, and in this manner contribute to an improved reputation of public administration.
